Research Fellowship Program

Abstract

Prior scholarship has highlighted the importance of understanding the relationships between regulation and business evolution. However, a gap exists in scholarship regarding how specific accounting and financial regulations impact venturing activities. Two examples of this include: a) the impact of varying accounting and finance regulations on for-profit venturing, and b) the impact of varying accounting and finance regulations on socially-oriented (hybrid or nonprofit) venturing. For this fellowship, I aim to explore these two related streams of research concurrently, over a two-year period. The specific outcomes that will emerge from these two streams of research include: several manuscripts for submission in peer-reviewed academic journals, co-organizing a conference/special issue on the topic, inviting guest academics for seminars, getting students involved with research, and applying for external grants.

Specific aims

There are two interrelated accounting and financial regulatory streams of research in this proposal. One stream of research targets the impacts of regulation on for-profit venturing and the other stream of research targets the impacts of regulation on socially-oriented (hybrids or nonprofit) venturing. The specific outcomes under these two streams, are as follows: Stream 1 (the impact of varying accounting and finance regulations on for-profit venturing): (1) To complete and submit five papers related to banking regulations and business performance. (2) To co-organize a conference and associated special issue in a high impact journal. (3) To present a variety of these papers to an academic or professional audience. Stream 2 (the impact of varying accounting and finance regulations on socially-oriented venturing): (1) To complete and submit three papers related to regulating social impact measurement. (2) To continue the academic review process with two papers on nonprofit tax exemption regulations. (3) To finish data collection and write up two papers on regulating certifications. (4) To collect data for a paper on behavioral aspects of environmental tax policy. Please see Appendix A for details on each project within the two streams. These details address the associated research question, methodology, and rationale for each paper.

Anton Bekkerman will continue to develop a research program that investigates and helps better understand the roles of regulatory and policy structures on the dynamics of agricultural markets. I will focus my efforts on two research areas: (a) the impact of a favorable tax provision to agricultural cooperatives on changes to pricing behaviors between cooperatively and privately-owned grain handling facilities and (b) the potential changes in the relationship between agricultural output (crop) and input (fertilizer) markets resulting from the 2005 and 2007 ethanol mandates. Through rigorous economics research and synergistic, collaborative activities, and using successes from the previous two years as a foundation, my research program will provide important insights about how and to what extent regulation and policies may alter the costs of producing, marketing, and consuming food products, and develop a highly effective and diverese communication of that research in the form of peer-reviewed manuscripts, conference and seminar presentations, shorter white papers and less technical pieces, and workshops for regional stakeholders.

Eric Belasco's research project will focus on the rules and regulations that are currently put into place as part of the federal agricultural safety net designed to protect farmers and ranchers from adverse market and production outcomes. The proposed project will focus on the following areas: (1) The impact of these policies on farm-level decisions; (2) Examine the unintended consequences of these programs on agricultural production and consumers; and (3) Better understand the role of labeling restrictions and regulations on agricultural production. This program will draw on currently funded programs and leverage those resources to extend the project to allow for a more successful research project at the end of the funding period. Collaborators from policy and academic backgrounds will be used to enhance the research of this program. Undergraduate researchers will play an important role in this project and get experience in conducting research and communicating results related to agricultural rules and regulations.

The U.S. healthcare system relies heavily on market forces, with efforts towards cost containment mainly focused on demand-side financial incentives. But despite widespread public frustration with the high costs of health care, many of these incentives have proven ineffective in achieving spending reductions. A better understanding of the obstacles that hinder these incentives is needed to inform current debates regarding possible regulatory changes in our complex health care system. The proposed research program will shed light on three of these areas: One project focuses on physicians’ lack of information regarding patient costs, and reluctance to use such information to inform treatment decisions. A second project focuses on physician agency, estimating how much weight physicians place on patient health benefits relative to their own. A third line of research explores consumers’ responses to financial incentives to undergo health risk screenings and to improve their health.

Due to its human and physical geography, Montana is disproportionately served by community banks relative to most other states in the nation. Because of this, the health of community banks is important to the health of Montana’s economy.Previous grants from the IRAEAhavefunded my work on two research projects related to the impact of regulation on community banking. Caton will continueworking this strand of research with two new projects spread over the next two years.  The first of thesewill look at the impact of the Dodd-Frank Act on bank investment decisions.The second research projectwill survey Montana-based banks with the intent to learn first-hand how financial regulation is impactingMontanacommunity banks, and which regulations are particularly challengingforsmallbank competitiveness. 

Justin Gallagher's research project will investigate how individuals evaluate and respond to environmental risk. The focus of the proposal is ona series of related projects that examine the effect of natural disasters on individual household finance and business profitability. In particular, the projects examine the role that insurance, public assistance, and lending institutions have on mitigating risk and smoothing financial shocks Federal regulation plays a potentially important role in disaster recovery by providing cash assistance, and through policies that determine how the private banking sector is organized However, as of yet, there has been no causal analysis regarding how federal cash assistance or banking regulation affects individual, business, and regional-level financial outcomes following the wealth shock of a large natural disaster. 

Isaac Swensen's research will continue building a research program that contributes valuable insights into the effects of criminal justice policies and regulations on public safety. Along with new research projects, I am enthusiastic about furthering projects for which the groundwork has been established through my fellowship this past two years. This proposal focuses on several speciϐic projects that will contribute to three broad areas: (i) risky behaviors in higher education, (ii) gun related behaviors and the effects of gun policies, and (iii) the effect of viewing interpersonal violence on crime.